How to Create a Successful Blog

Blog. Nearly everyone involved in the world of online marketing have a blog.

Not only individuals who want to earn money directly from blogs, but also companies, businesses, and startups who want to reach more audience.

But there is a harsh reality behind the blog phenomenon.

Not all blogs become successful.

The ratio of successful blogs and unsuccessful so far. So many blogs are lost without unknown by anyone.

There are many factors that influence the failure of a blog, but the main factor is because the blog owner is busy focusing on things that are less important.

So they forget the things that are vital to the success of his blog.

In this guide I will show the steps to create a successful blog. But not only that.

before we go any further.

I've made a few blogs in various functions and purposes.

The personal blog, niche blog, corporate blog / business.

Some success, but there is also my blog that failed. Through a variety of trial and error, I can conclude that this is all the steps you should go through and which ones are most important.

You should remember that there is no "magic wand" that can make a live blog an overnight success.

It takes time, it takes hard work.

Priorities in the process of making a successful blog

In each of the following steps you will see the numbers on the right in the range of 1-10.

This figure shows how important these stages. 1 shows is not very important and 10 showed very important.

A - Determine niche [8]

The best blogs are always focused on one niche. No more, no less.

Why?

By focusing on one niche, we can make the blog as the main source of information for the general public who are interested in the niche.

If we focus on the many niche then it's difficult to get a loyal audience.

There are two ways to determine what niche you should select:

• Customize with passion, interests, and talents.
• Adjust the venture industry / business.

Blog will only be successful if the authors are experts in the field.

If you are not an expert, do not worry ... there are two solutions.
Do the following:

• Learn about the topic until you become an expert, or
• Recruit writers. But this writer must be an expert in your chosen niche.

To simplify the explanation of the next stage, I will use examples of niche coffee.

B - Determine the domain, hosting, platform, template [3]

The domain name that you choose should be brandable. Not too long and easy to pronounce.

Here are a few examples of domain name selection:

• CoffeeHouses.com
• CoffeeMug.com
• CoffeeMania.com
• CoffeeVillage.com
• Coffeelovers.com

Only Example.!

Business Website: place your blog in a subdirectory is not in the subdomain

There are two placement options blog if you have a business website that sells products or in the form of an online store. Using subdirectories (primarydomain.com /blog/) or subdomains (blog.maindomain.com).

Apparently, the subdomain is considered by search engines as a separate domain from the primary domain. So it is better to use a subdirectory so that the primary domain authority carried over to the blog.

There are several studies that support this statement:

• Subdomains vs Subfolders - Moz [Video]
• The decline in traffic due to the removal of the subfolder to subdomain

Use for hosting popular and reliable.

For the platform, WordPress is the most flexible and will provide complete features to your blog. A detailed description read articles how to make this blog.

In this stage not much time. Always choose the best.

C - Determine the monetization method [2]

After choosing a niche, you certainly will figure out how to earn money from the niche. Here are some options.

• Selling products - for air-niche blog for example coffee powder / coffee beans, coffee grinder or machine.
• Promoting affiliate products
• selling service
• Publisher ad
• (More)

For those of you who create a blog for your company / startup does not need to think about this one.

Your main objective to create a blog might be earnings. But do not focus on the money at the beginning of the process of blogging.

Focus on helping others who need the information.

D - Perform keyword research [4]

The process of keyword research is done primarily to determine the topics derived from your main niche.

Suppose for the blog to niche coffee:

• Coffee product reviews
• Information and product reviews Coffee
• Location (cafe) providing coffee
• Equipment / machinery related to coffee
• Other guides related coffee

To find this topic, you must visit community sites that discuss your niche. An example of this.

Usually we wasted a lot of time in this section. because trying to find the "hidden keyword" and long tail keywords. No need.

If you want to learn more, follow this keyword research guide.

E - Discover who your prospective readers [8]

Before you begin blogging, make sure you know who your audience.

This stage is very important so that you understand what the common problems that you can solve.

If you skip this step, you might even try to solve the problem that does not actually exist. because too many solutions.

Other benefits are:

• Knowing what you want them to understand
• Knowing what their speaking style online
• To establish relationships and build a reputation
• As we later targeted promotions

They are people who will pay you. Nor should you do not understand their characteristics.

Not difficult to find them, visit some of these places:

• Site forums - use Google with the keyword: [niche] + forum
• Facebook Groups - do a search on FB to find your niche related groups
• Google+ Communities - the same as FB
• Twitter, Instagram, etc. - Learned (#hashtags) what is commonly used.

Do this:

1. Find forums in your niche through Google.
2. Locate and join Google+ to Facebook Groups and Communities in accordance niche
3. Keep track of what you find in Excel or Google Docs Spreadsheets.

F - Discover who the other bloggers in the same niche [9]

In other words, find out who the influencers in this niche

There are several reasons why we have to find them.

The first, which is to learn what a blog as the most successful in the niche. Your task is to create a blog that far exceeded them.

Second, to understand what topics are often discussed and what they often recommend.

Third, to establish a relationship with them. This is the most important. If you are not on good terms with other bloggers, it is very difficult to be successful.

Fourth, finally, the content that you create must impress them.

In other words: the featured content.

They are the ones who mastered his niche, it's harder to make influencer awe, rather than the audience. But this must be done.

To find influencers, perform the following steps:
Search on google with keyword: "[niche] + blog"
Use Followerwonk to find their Twitter account (see image below for settings)
>>>>>>>>

In the search field enter your niche. If you want to find the person of your country but with a niche in English, enter the location contains the names of major cities in your country.

Do this:

1. Find blogs and bloggers in your niche with Google.
2. Find an enthusiastic Twitter users in your niche using Followerwonk. (Alternative: Topsy)
3. Write down everything in a spreadsheet file the same with the previous step.

G - Create a content plan [7]

Successful blog owners do not create content at random but through the process.

Interest makes planning content is that the content on your blog neatly arranged and optimized.

In order for any content on your blog is worth, not just write-publish-write-publish.

The first thing you should do is create a system so that you can always have ideas for blog content. like this:

• Open community that you'd found every day. Blog content is something that can solve the problems that arise there.
• A subscription to the blog in the same niche. Use Feedly to get updates their blog.
• Open WhattoWrite, follow the steps that they provide to get an idea of ​​the content.
• Next make a storage place content ideas. Add in the storage whenever you find new content.

To save your ideas, tool advice  >> Trello

all the ideas that allow accommodated then interesting to be published soon be included in the "Coming up".

Further content in the manufacturing process be included in the "In-progress".

This manufacturing process includes the preparation of the framework and outside the reference search. For the manufacture of content framework, my advice is >> Evernote.

Do this:
1. Register Trello, create a new board and create a list like the example image above.

2. Open WhattoWrite.org, follow the process to explore the idea of ​​content. Then enter to Trello.

3. List in Feedly, open the page "Add content" and enter the domain blog is the earlier you note. Follow everything.

4. List and install Evernote on your computer (and Android / iOS if necessary). Draw terms of content here.

H - Learn (and apply) SEO [5]

I give priority SEO small because it does not really matter anymore.

Nowadays SEO is no longer creepy as ever. But there are still many people who make as if SEO was like an alien.

You need to know about SEO for your blog, just the basics, especially the concept of how search engines rank websites and what you can do.

For those of you who are too obsessed with SEO:

• SEO results take time, not instant. SEO is not the best method to popularize your blog.
• SEO is an ongoing long-term project, do as we go along with the other phases are more important.
• SEO is the results of your work. If you manage to do another stage in this guide, your ranking can be automatically high.

For those of you who do not understand about SEO, please read this SEO guide.

I - Create quality content [10]

Do not underestimate the quality of the content, quality content is not as trivial as you think.

Earlier I alluded a little bit. Create content that will make the other bloggers in your niche (influencers) fascinated with its contents.

Not the audience, but influencers.

Influencers are people who cultivate your niche. To be wowed, you need to create content that exceeds their science.

You must create content that the discussion was only there the only one in the world.

Why do we create content for influencer?

Because they had an audience. If we managed to create amazing content, they would happily recommend this content to their audience.

This is the concept of quality articles.

Here are the characteristics of the best content that will be popular:

• In the form of guidance or guidelines complete.
• The solution of the problem that there is no solution.
• The answer is always to make people confused.
• Not news, but analysis of a story.
• There has never been content with the same content.

To create this content you need to be an expert on a niche. Therefore, in this first stage I say you have to be an expert.

Read this guide to create some quality content:

• SBH method (Soon)
• Creating featured content (Soon)
• Content writing techniques (Soon)

J - Active as a human being in social media [7]

This is why you as a blogger should be active in social media:

• To communicate with the reader
• Building relationships with influencers
• Get an idea of ​​content, as discussed earlier
• promoting content
• Distributing other people's content

Social media is an extension of your blog. Moreover, some countries are very much like to spend time on social media.

That's why you can reach a lot of people on social media.

Why share other people's content?

Well ..

Blog readers to follow you on social media is certainly very loyal to you and want the best content in the other.

But we can not provide a lot of new content in a short time.

Take advantage of social media to share the best content in your topic from other websites. In this way, the reader will be kept entertained with the new reading. and will remain loyal to you.

In my title says 'the humanity'.

Rules so that your followers do not hate you in social media:

• Link that you share has to explain what was in it, do it manually. Do not just titles.
• Do not use tools that automatically publish blog posts like Twitterfeed and IFTTT.
• The ratio of 2: 2: 1, 2 content from other websites, 2) the content belongs to you, 1 update without links. Reduce your narcissistic level, share other people's content.

Use Buffer tools to enable you to publish updates on social media according to the time you set.

Do this:
1. Follow all accounts influencers that you have found earlier.

2. register on Buffer and install an extension for Chrome / Firefox. Start updating your social networks whenever find interesting content.

K - Promote, / distribution of content [10]

Content distribution is a key factor of success blog.

How successful your blog will be determined by how smart and aggressive you are in the promotion.

Most bloggers are not currently doing promotions and simply rely on SEO for website development. This is wrong, ranking in Google can not be set directly.

Therefore, if you rely on SEO without marketing means you just wait for something that is not clear. Unless you practice Black Hat SEO is a big risk.

There are two groups in the promotion of your target, namely to:

• Audience - prospective readers are clearly interested in your niche or industry.
• Influencers - those who have their own audience, such as bloggers or people who often provide knowledge on forums and social media.

Your marketing efforts will only be successful if you have made the right content in step # 9. If not, do not do marketing.

The higher the quality of the content, the more easily the market, because other people will also market your content.

To market to the audience, join the forum community as people who regularly answered questions members. Be influencer.

As for marketing to influencers, you must establish a relationship with them. Can be through blog comments, or better yet through social media and email.

Do not call them just to ask for a promotion.

You who must first give them something, for example, put a link to their blog on your content.

Because of the importance of content marketing techniques, I highly recommend you to read this content promotion techniques.

L - Build an email list [8]

The biggest mistake of an online marketer is not building an email list.

Based on figures from the following HelpScout, email provides the greatest ROI. Very much when compared with advertising. The conversion rate of email also exceeded the search engines and social media.

The biggest social media mistake I've ever made. Email matters. People do not change Reviews their email addresses. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, people join and drop that pretty often. But changing your email address is a hassle.
"Jon Acuff"

Do not repeat the mistakes of other marketers. Immediately create a system to build an email list even if your blog is still new.

Read articles list building guide to get started.

M - Analysis of the results of work [8]

Perform analysis of your blog by using analysis tools such as Google Analytics.

This stage is often overlooked by bloggers because it was difficult. Yet even though it looks complicated at the start, once you learn the knowledge you will prevail, however.

What makes them come?

what keeps them coming?

What makes them do something

• sign up
• buy
• social sharing

and what makes them go away from your website.

In general, here's what you should know from the blog. If you can not answer these questions like you are walking while turning a blind eye.

By knowing where your visitors come, you can focus on a particular traffic source rather than doing random marketing.

Meanwhile, knowing their satisfaction then you can fix things so that your blog is always optimal.

Read this guide to analyze your content.

Done! What is next?

now you know how to create a successful blog.

But once again, there is no "magic wand" that can make you become a success overnight. All that is written in this guide requires dedication.

You need a minimum of a few months or even for years.

Clearly there is no chance. Successful blog is not by luck but because of the hard work of the owner. You too.

Furthermore, if you want to learn more about a related topic, please read some of the following guidelines:

1. SEO guide for beginners
2. Keyword research guide
3. Write articles and create a title
4. Promoting content.

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